Difficulties
A man someone would consider to be more cruel than a plague sat in his office with his chair turned facing the window. He was plotting something, something big. All his years of coming up with what he thought was the perfect Zaun was finally coming to light. What was left was just to set everything into motion, then it'd all work out in his favour.
"Silco I've got news from the kids you sent out to spy on Vander's heathens." A woman announced entering the office quiet rudely. Sevika.
A sly smile crept on Silco's face, "Go on."
"His brats were behind the whole Piltover explosion that happened not that long ago. And to add to it, seems like little Violet and the Kiramman family's only daughter have some sort of secret 'romance' going on between them. I heard from Marcus their not supposed to be together anymore so this could be something for us to use against Vander if we play our cards right." Sevika supplied giving the rundown on what she knew.
'A lowlife peacekeeper from Zaun and a council woman's daughter together? What a travesty..'
Silco applauded Sevika's efforts and handed the woman a bag filled with coins. "Treat yourself to something nice Sevika. And before you go, send Marcus in here. I need a discussion with him as well."
Sevika nodded her head and closed the office door. They really had an ace up their sleeves now all thanks to Vander's kid being stupid.
-
"What is this place?" Caitlyn asked in awe at the building Vi had brought her to. It was purposefully disguised from the rest of Zaun almost like a hideaway.
Vi helped Cait get inside from the broken window. "Me and my siblings come down here sometimes when we need to hide from the enforcers."
Oh.
"You have to hide from the enforcers? But they're supposed to protect people. Why would you need to hide away from them?" Caitlyn questioned genuinely confused on Vi would ever feel the need to hide from them.
Vi rolled her eyes and let go off Caitlyn's hand taking a seat on the steps that lead up to some sort of machine. "They hunt us Cait. Enforcers killed my parents on the bridge. Why the hell would I trust them?"
That's right. Caitlyn was from topside and most importantly a council woman's daughter. Of course enforcers were nice to her. She decided it was better to keep her mouth shut over something she didn't understand.
"So, you wanna tell me what this thing does? I see your name all over it." She asked pointing to the machine. It looked like a game of some sorts.
Vi cracked a smirk, "I could show you."
"Please do. I'd love to see it." Cait teased knowing the girl wanted to show off and impress her.
And that's exactly what Vi did. She flipped the switch on and began boxing against the machine. Caitlyn found it very amusing. Vi didn't miss any punches at all. And she was very aggressive. Perhaps knowing the right people she could make a career out of it. "Wow. Make sure I never get on your bad side."
Vi finished attacking the machine and watched as her name stayed atop of the board. "You could never be on my bad side cupcake."
There it was with that ridiculous nickname again. But by this point Caitlyn was pretty much accustomed to it even catching herself loving to hear it sometimes.
"Well I'm greatful. Now I know if someone gets on my bad side I have a knight in shining armor to protect me." Caitlyn teased once more taking a seat beside Vi on the floor. The two locked eyes with each other and Vi began to lean in for a kiss once more.
Well that didn't last very long.
"See Clagg I told you!" Mylo yelled seemingly out of nowhere. Soon enough Claggor and Powder followed the boy inside the hideaway suspicious about why he was being so loud.
Vi blushed and hurried to move away from Caitlyn.
"Oh... oh! Ok! Probably should've stayed in the basement. Sorry Vi didn't mean to disturb you two." Claggor apologized realizing what they walked into.
"What are you even talking about?" Powder asked confused and irritated ignoring the others and walking over to the shooting game and picking up one of the guns.
"Ooh! Is that a game for shooting?" Caitlyn asked intrigued considering she loved shooting with her snipper. Powder nodded handing her the other gun and showing Caitlyn a demonstration on how to play. She seemed to be a professional at it. Almost like how Vi was on the boxing game.
"Let me try!" Mylo demanded snatching the gun out of his younger sisters hands and reloading it getting ready to show off to Cait. Unlike Powder who seemed to be gifted, Mylo missed every single shot.
The younger girl began to laugh at him and he started arguing clearly enraged by the fact an 11 year had beat him miserably.
"I should take you to shoot with me and Grayson sometime Powder. You'd be an ace at it." Caitlyn offered applauding her skills. Powder smiled, "Really? That'd be so cool!"
Vi couldn't help but feel an immense happiness seeing Caitlyn and Powder get along.
-
The group of kids kept playing around in the spot for awhile unaware of the chaos going on outside. Enforcers. Marcus had been briefed by Silco that Caitlyn had went to see Vi in the under city again.
"Where the hell is Caitlyn Kiramman!?" Marcus yelled grabbing a man on the streets by his shirt collar.
The man scoffed, "Who the fuck is that? And why would I care?"
Marcus was enraged and blindsided by power. "I'll ask once more, where the hell is Caitlyn Kiramman you dirty street trash?"
The man rolled his eyes and spat on Marcus's shoe, "Right there." He joked not giving a shit about who Marcus or the other enforcers were. Angered, Marcus threw the man through an 'abandoned' building that just so happened to be the hideaway the group was in.
"Damn it!" Vi yelled noticing the enforcers now surrounding the spot and the man lying on the floor.
Caitlyn recognizing Marcus began to panic and tried to find a spot to hide. She ended up settling on hiding behind the cardboard cut outs for the shooting game.
Marcus stepped inside the place and approached a very defensive Vi who had her fists bawled up. "What? We did nothing so you can leave."
He smirked getting all up in her face, "Your little girlfriends gone missing again. You think I don't know she's hiding somewhere around here? Give her up and you can leave this place peacefully. Otherwise Stillwaters calling your name. And I don't need a reason to bring you there." Marcus threatened hoping to scare the girl into making this easy for him. Vi didn't budge much to his annoyance. She just stared him dead in the face with a smug look that made Marcus want to hit her. This turned into a staring match.
"Shit! She's getting away!" Another enforcer called out as Marcus whipped around to see Caitlyn running out of the hideaway. Vi had played him.
And run Caitlyn did. She had no clue where the hell she was going but she didn't want to go back home. Not yet. She ran until she made it into an alleyway.
"Psst, over here!" A voice whispered startling Caitlyn terribly. It was a boy probably Powder's age that had very light blonde hair almost white colored. Something inside told her going with him was the best bet right now.
Following, He took her through the city until they reached a shop simply titled 'Benzo's'.
"Up here." Ekko motioned climbing up onto the building and entering through a window in the back.
Great. More climbing. But unhappily and exhausted, Cait followed knowing he knew where he was going. The space above was bare and seemed to be another hideaway of sorts.
"What is this place and who are you?" She asked intrigued by the kid who knew to protect her.
He smiled introducing himself, "Ekko. Vi wouldn't stop talking about you and I heard enforcers had come looking for you. This place is where I get to eavesdrop on Benzo's conversations."
Vi had been talking about her?
"Vi said stuff about me?" Caitlyn asked intrigued on what the girl thought of her.
"Oh yeah totally. She wouldn't shut up on trying to convince Vander to let her go and see you. She went on and on about how much she loved you. Or at least I think that's what she was getting at. It was enough for Vander to pull her down to the basement and give her the... y'know... talk."
Caitlyn's face turned red, "Oh my!" At least she knew Vi cared enough to try and fight her father to go and visit.
"I think you should stay here until the enforcers leave. I'll come back and let you know later when it's safe." Ekko promised turning to leave.
Caitlyn grumbled putting her hand on her head, "Great... I'm stuck with absolutely nothing to do for who knows how long..."
-
Hours went by and Caitlyn sat doing nothing waiting on Ekko to come back and let her know it was safe to leave. Eventually, she fell asleep unintentionally.
"...Cait... Caitlyn! C'mon time to get up!" A voice called out shaking her awake from her nap. Vi.
"How long was I asleep for?" She asked relived Vi had come to get her.
Vi helped Caitlyn up from the floor, "Dunno. I just got here after making sure the enforcers were gone. I'm sure they're still lingering around here somewhere but it's safe enough to go home with me. And if they do come back we know how to hide. "
Greatful, Caitlyn took Vi's hand and the two made their way down from the roof heading to walk back to the Last Drop. Vi gave Caitlyn her hood to wear just incase they ran into anybody. That only made them look more suspicious.
The girls fought past the city traffic and entered the familiar home. Like always, Vander stayed stationed pouring the drinks. But it didn't take long for him to see the two sneaking inside.
"Violet, a word, and without your friend please." Vander said catching his daughter by surprise. Caitlyn said goodbye to Vi and went down to the basement where Powder and the boys were.
"Why is she back again? I know you think you love her but this isn't right. The Kiramman's daughter can't be seen down here especially not at the bar. Enforcers come looking for her and disrupt my business. I'll walk her back home but this is the last time you hear?" He scolded feeling bad knowing this was hard for Vi.
"But-"
"No buts. Last time. You forget you ever met."
Angrily Vi got up and knocked over the bar stool she had been sitting on knowing Vander's stance wasn't going to change.
"You have to leave Cait. Vander says." Vi announced walking into the basement angry at the situation.
Caitlyn and Powder looked like they were bonding again. Now she was really angry that Caitlyn had to go.
Caitlyn locked eyes with Vi and could easily see how distraught the girl was even if she was good at keeping her feelings well hidden. "It's for the best. I'll see you some other time when things are better."
Those words hurt Cait to say. She didn't want to leave because she knew when she got home it'd only get worse from there. And who knew the next time her and Vi could be together again.
Turning to head back upstairs to Vander, Caitlyn put a hand on Vi's shoulder and ran her fingers through her hair. Still as soft as last time.
"You'll be fine. I love you." She said reassuring Vi before planting a small kiss on the girls lips and parting ways. Vi looked back in shock hearing those words coming from Cait's mouth. She liked to hear it but was not expecting it.
"Ew! Get a room!" Mylo teased throwing the ball he'd been playing with towards Vi who caught it with her hand on instinct. Vi threw the thing back aiming and hitting at his face.
Powder laughed seeing the injured Mylo, "Ha ha. You got what you deserved."
Claggor sat stressed out again watching his siblings go back and forth arguing and poking fun at each other. He really was the only sane one in the family.
-
"What is so special about this girl that you feel the need to sneak down into the wastelands every chance you get Caitlyn!?" Cassandra bickered angry at her daughter who had been returned by Grayson. She just couldn't understand what her daughter saw in Zaun trash like Vi.
"You don't get it!"
"Clearly!"
Caitlyn wanted to scream at her mother but resorted instead to knocking off her precious flower vase from the table. "Violet's the only one who gets me. She understands how I feel and doesn't make me seem like I'm weird for it!"
"You have so many other people if you need a friend Caitlyn. This girl isn't the one for you and you need to forget about her this instant!" Cassandra demanded pissed with the attitude her usually 'reserved' daughter seemed to have picked up from the lowly girl.
"I love her!"
Yup, there it was out in the open. The explanation for why Caitlyn was so enraged.
Baffled, Cassandra got up from her chair and pointed towards upstairs. "You're going to go up there and forget those three words ever left your mouth. And if I catch you with that hoodlem ever again I'm pressing charges against her for the explosion at poor Jayce's apartment."
Caitlyn started at her mother in shock at how cruel she was being. She then flipped her off and stomped her way upstairs to her bedroom which now felt like nothing more than a prison that kept her captive.
Even if her mother said no, this wasn't going to be the last time she saw Vi especially since Caitlyn knew she loved her. Nobody was going to stand in the way of them even if her mother was threatening charges.